The present invention relates to security grille locking systems for windows, doors and the like building openings, and, in particular, to pivoting, lockable window security grilles that may be opened when required, say, in cases of emergency to allow persons to escape the building through the window. The present invention more particularly relates to a locking assembly for window and door security grilles.
Commonly, unlawful entry into buildings is facilitated through windows. Conventional window locks only prevent the prising open of the window from the outside by manipulation of its frame. Window locks are ineffective where the objective is to smash the window glass. Once the glass is smashed, the intruder may clear a way through the window to enter the building or extend their arm around the broken glass to manipulate the lock.
Security grilles provide a more secure, if less aesthetically pleasing, means of preventing unlawful entry through windows. However, not all security grilles are pivotally openable from adjacent the window, and those which do have this feature are, in the main, difficult to open or unreliable to operate because of shortcomings in the locking assembly.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a locking assembly for pivotally openable window and door security grilles which will enable such grilles to easily and rapidly open so as to allow the occupants of the building to readily escape the building in case of an emergency.
It is a preferred object of the present invention to provide a locking assembly for pivotally openable window and door security grilles that may be operated from both the inside and outside of a building.
According to the invention, there is provided a locking assembly for a pivotally openable window or door security grille of a building, comprising:
an electronic punch key pad operable from within the building,
a solenoid means having a solenoid rod retractable by operation of the electronic punch key pad,
a locking shaft means secured at a first end thereof to the security grille, and including a shaft member at its second end thereof, the shaft member adapted to reach a lockable location when the security grille is pivoted from an opened position to a closed position,
an actuator support bracket to which the solenoid means is mounted, the actuator support bracket being adapted to pivot in a forward direction from a first reference location to a second reference location so as to facilitate unlocking of the security grille and to pivot in a reverse direction from the second reference location to the first reference location so as to facilitate locking of the security grille, the actuator support bracket also having mounted thereon a slidable pin adapted to extend in a first longitudinal direction under the influence of first spring bias means and to retract in a second longitudinal direction opposite the first longitudinal direction under force applied by the shaft member of the locking shaft means when the security grille is pivoted from the opened position to the closed position, the actuator support bracket further including a catch surface adapted to engage against the shaft member of the locking shaft means so as to prevent the shaft member leaving the lockable location,
first stop means for controllably preventing the actuator support bracket pivoting in the forward direction from the first reference location to the second reference location,
second stop means for controllably preventing the actuator support bracket pivoting in the reverse direction from the second reference location to the first reference location,
handle means operable from within the building to enable the actuator support bracket to pivot from the first reference location to the second reference location, and
second spring bias means adapted to oppose the actuator support bracket pivoting from the first reference location to the second reference location when the first stop means no longer prevents the actuator support bracket pivoting in the forward direction,
the arrangement being such that; to unlock the security grille, a user operates the electronic punch key pad to cause the solenoid rod to disengage the first stop means and then operates the handle means to cause the actuator support bracket to pivot in the forward direction from the first reference location to the second reference location against the influence of the second spring bias means, whereby the catch surface no longer engages against the shaft member which is free to leave the lockable location and allow the security grille to be pivoted to an opened position, and whereafter the slidable pin engages the second stop means under the influence of the first spring bias means; and to lock the security grille, the user pivots the security grille to a closed position so as to cause the shaft member to apply a force against the slidable pin that disengages the slidable pin from the second stop means against the opposing influence of the first spring bias means, whereby the actuator support bracket is caused to pivot in the reverse direction from the second reference location to the first reference location under the influence of the second spring bias means until the catch surface engages against the shaft member so as to prevent the shaft member leaving the lockable location, and whereafter the solenoid rod reengages the first stop means.